AGC won't appeal against sex offender Joshua Robinson's four-year jail term
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said on Wednesday (8 March) that it will not appeal against the four-year jail term of convicted sex offender Joshua Robinson who had sex with two 15-year-old girls.
In a statement posted on the AGC’s website, AGC noted, “There has been public attention to this case, and calls from some members of the public for an appeal against the sentence imposed and for caning to be imposed.”
AGC said that the prosecution had considered the fact that Robinson, an American mixed martial arts instructor, had pleaded guilty and by doing so, spared his victims from the trauma of testifying at a trial.
The 39-year-old had pleaded guilty to nine charges including having sex with the two girls, making obscene films of his sex acts with the victims, and showing an obscene clip to a six-year-old girl.
The statement reaffirmed that the AGC “does not differentiate between Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans in discharging our duties”.
It added that the most serious charge that the prosecution could have brought on the facts of the case was the offence of sexual penetration of a minor under 16 years of age, and that caning is not provided for any of the offences he was charged with.
An online petition seeking a heavier sentence against Robinson started shortly after he was jailed, and had garnered more than 27,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. The petition called the sentence “unacceptable and absolutely intolerable”.
